Finite element analysis on 1-3 piezocomposite rings for ultrasonic transducer applications

In this study, a commercial finite element code (FEM), ANSYS, is used to study the behaviors of 1-3 lead zirconate titante (PZT)/epoxy composite rings. The composite rings are fabricated by a dice-and-fill technique with an epoxy width of 80 μm. By using different number of cuts per direction (cpd), the composites with PZT volume fraction (φ) from 0.88 to 0.93 could be obtained. It is found that the lateral characteristics (radial modes) of a PZT ring can be reduced significantly by using a 1-3 composite ring. Three-dimensional finite element models are built to understand and study the vibration characteristics of the composite rings. Good agreements are found between experimental results and FEM simulations. Results from this study can be used to optimize the number of cpd of the composite rings for practical transducer applications.